Because of A Spider
by ink and imagination
Summary: It's because of a huge, scary spider Lily finally talks to her gorgeous neighbour • jily modern!au


**author's note: **written for hogwarts, prompts at the bottom.

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_Because of a Spider_

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"He's just so pretty, Marlene," Lily whined.

Marlene smirked. "You've told me."

"But he probably has a girlfriend." Lily said, "How can someone as gorgeous as James not?"

Marlene spun her chair around and faced Lily who was sprawled dramatically on her bed. "Honestly, I don't think he does. If he did, you would have seen her, or at least heard her through the walls."

Lily groaned, "Sure."

Marlene shook her head, "How have you even caught feelings? Have you guys even talked?"

"Of course we have! Well, kind of, we nod at each other in the hallways? Sometimes we even say hi. And, well, it's not like I can help it, but I hear him talking through the walls, so I know him pretty well."

Marlene shook her head again and sighed.

After a while, Lily let out a high pitched squeak, "What if he's gay?"

**x**

"Mate, are you alright?"

James gave Sirius an odd look. "Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. You've been off; I just won seven games of chess. I know I'm a genius, but you weren't even trying."

Remus nodded. "I noticed it too; you nearly burnt the cupcakes you were baking. I've never seen you so distracted."

James rolled his eyes. "That doesn't mean anything, it was just a mistake. Everything's fine."

"You sure?" Remus asked, putting down whatever book he was reading.

Sirius watched James with an odd look on his face, before gasping dramatically, "You like someone!"

James raised his eyebrows. "What? Where did that come from? No, I don't." He paused, and gave a little sigh. "Alright, how'd you know."

Sirius smirked with a look of triumph. "Sirius Black always knows."

Remus elbowed Sirius in the gut. "Don't be such a git."

"And you're always distracted from the real world when you have a major crush on someone," Sirius said. "I bet it's that bird in Minnie's class. Smith, right?"

"Smith? No, it's the girl who lives in 609. You know, the flat sharing a wall with my bedroom."

"Wait, the blonde one?" Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head, "No, I think that's just her friend, she doesn't live there. You like the redhead?

James nodded. "That's her. She has _really _pretty eyes. Emerald green."

"What's her name, again?"

James shrugged. "I never asked."

**x**

Lily woke up the next morning and was actually a little excited for the day. Her roommate, Mary, had left to visit her family the day before, which meant she'd have the flat all for herself. Not that she didn't like Mary, in fact she they had become pretty good friends. Lily just needed some peace and quiet for once.

Lily was heading to the washroom, definitely not thinking about her gorgeous neighbour, when she thought she heard someth—

"Hey, babes."

"Holy fuck, Marls." Lily turned to look at Marlene who was casually watching _The 100_ on the telly.

"Yeah?"

"How the hell did you get in?"

"I stole the extra key." Marlene turned the telly off. "Can you believe they haven't made Bellamy and Clarke kiss yet? I mean, come on, they can't hold off their sexual tension for much longer, it's been there since the first season."

"Of course you stole the extra key," Lily muttered to herself. She noticed Marlene was holding a glass jar, but decided to not ask much of it. "Well, I'm going to the washroom."

"And I'm going to the shop; you're out of chocolate."

**x**

Lily was about to take a shower when she saw something in the bathtub. Was that a—

**x**

James bolted awake by the sound of an ear piercing scream._ What the fuck?_ That came from the flat next to his. _Her _flat. Was she okay? As usual his overreacting imagination came to play._ Fucking hell, w__hat if she was being murdered?_

James threw on some clothes and headed to the door. Then he stopped. He was probably, almost definitely, overreacting. She was probably fine. And if she _was _being murdered, wouldn't the killer still be there? He'd need something to knock him out. Also, why didn't he hear more screams? James inhaled._ Because __she__'s __already dead_.

_Calm down, you're overreacting, she's fine, probably just slipped or—_

That's when the bell rang.

_Holy fuck, it's probably the murderer, they're gonna try to kill me too. And I don't even have anything to defend myself with. Fuck that, I'll just use my hands. _

Then he realized murderers most likely didn't don't ring bells. He looked through the peephole and saw the petite figure of his next door neighbour standing there.

**x**

Lily ran out of the washroom. She fumbled around for her phone and texted Marlene.

_THERE'S A GIANT FCKING SPIDER IN THE BATHTUB, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?_

Then what seemed like an eternity later, she replied.

**get rid of it yourself, i'm talking to the cute girl who works here**

_MARLENE I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE NEAR THAT THING _

_MARLENE_

_MARLENE?_

_MARLENE I'M GOING TO MURDER YOU LATER YOU ABSOLUTE PRICK_

Lily turned off her phone and continued freaking out.

She had to do _something_. She couldn't just wait for Marlene to get back home, the spider would probably make it into the living room by then and that would be absolutely horrible. She needed someone, anyone to kill it right now otherwise—_James._ Her beautiful, wonderful neighbour! He'd surely be awake by now because if someone was able to sleep in longer than Lily could, well, that would be impossible. He always seemed like a really nice person and even if he thought Lily was a wuss it didn't matter because all she needed was for him to get rid of it.

Lily put on whatever clothes were in plain sight and ran to his flat. She rang the bell. _Please open, please open, please open._

James opened the door and tried to act as cool as possible. "Hey. You live next door, right?"

She muttered what sounded like _thank goodness _and then said, "Yeah, I'm Lily, are you busy?" She paused for a second, but continued before he could reply. "I'm sorry, but there's a spider in my bathtub. Could you please kill it?"

James laughed. He didn't mean to but a _spider? _He thought she was being murdered but she just saw a spider?

Lily raised her eyebrows, her mouth slightly open. "Are you laughing at me? You—"

James wanted to smack himself in the face, she probably already hated him. "No! No, I'm sorry. I just thought— Never mind. Of course I'll get rid of it. Lead the way."

Lily squinted at him suspiciously for a moment or two. "Okay, thanks." She turned around, motioning for him to follow.

**x**

Lily waited at the edge of the bathroom for James to get rid of the spider. He insisted not to kill it and just let it out the window. Lily had hesitantly agreed, making him promise he'd shut the window close so it wouldn't crawl back in.

Once he finished, she smiled. "Thank you."

James grinned back at her, causing Lily to melt inside. "No problem. Are you really that terrified of spiders?"

"Well, yes, I got bit by a poisonous one when I was six and I never liked them after that."

"I suppose that's fair," he said, nodding. "I'm James, by the way."

"Yeah, I know." Lily's eyes widened. "I mean, I heard one of your friends calling you James so I—"

James laughed, interrupting her, "Okay."

Lily prayed her cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

The silence filled the air between them.

Lily spoke up: "Do you want some chocolate chip cookies? I made them myself."

"I'd love one."

**x**

Lily sat across from James on the sofa and took another sip of her tea. James was absolutely amazing. He'd had millions of funny, absolutely ridiculous stories about him and his mates. He told them with such passion, his hands flying everywhere. He had knocked off his glasses more than once.

"I'd love to meet the idiots you're friends with one day."

James grinned at her. "I'd love you to meet them too. They'd probably love you."

Lily stared back at James, butterflies tickling her stomach.

"Do you want to go for dinner?"

_Bloody hell, did he just ask her out?_

James' eyes widened when she didn't reply. "God, I'm sorry, that was too forward, I didn't mean to ask you, well, I mean, I did, I mean, I spoke without thinking and—"

Lily decided to put the very cute, bumbling idiot out of his misery. "I'd love to go out for dinner," she said giggling.

Lily didn't see Marlene until the next day, when the blonde welcomed herself into her flat.

"Hey, Marls. where did you disappear to yesterday?"

"Places," she said, tossing some chocolate onto the counter. "How was your day without me?"

"Well, after you abandoned me, I asked James to get rid of the spider and then we started talking. He's really sweet. And funny. And—" Lily stopped mid sentence. "Why are you smirking like that?"

Marlene started laughing, and Lily thought she heard some evil mastermind cackling in there too.

"Wait, did you… you put that spider in my bathtub! How did you even know that I'd ask James for help?! I could've gotten his attention by myself, you know! And where did you even _get _that giant spider? You know how afraid I am of spiders, Marlene, I will _end you—_"

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_word count: 1582, according to gdocs_

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**a/n:** feel free to drop a review!

**prompts:**

**assignment 7:** Survival Studies: Survival Skills: Task Four: Food/Water: _Write a fic set over three days - there must be a scene set on each of the days._

**auction: **james/lily (32 coins)

**insane prompts**: 762. (scenario) This is totally awkward considering before this the only interactions we've ever had have been casual nods to each other in the hallway but there's a huge fucking spider in my bathtub and you seem like the friendly neighbor type please help me


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